No you don't understand - as soon as a white elephant is identified, it is the job of the local governments to throw as much money at it as possible. Witness light rail, street cars, a 4.1 billion dollar interstate bridge that has the same number of lanes to carry cars as the bridge we presently have. Remember, it doesn't have to work, it just has to 'sound' good (the liberal mantra). Reminds me of the Navy, work it might, shine it must.

Wave bye-bye to more tax money. When they get done with that batch of tax money they will find ways to pick more money out of your wallet. Government sanctioned pick pockets - gotta love it.

Uh, sorry, that's there and not here, Portland is different!!! This will never happen to us because we are smarter.

After repeated and escalating failures at Cascade Station, Beaverton Round, SoWa and others Metro and their municipal clones never waiver. Instead they claim their approach is sound and that it just takes time to work out.

They're wrong, incompetent and dishonest.

In no particular mixture.

This costly CC Hotel is nothing but more of their make believe world where they know what they are doiong.

I remember Dave Bragdon a few yeasr back talking about Light Rail on the 20th anniversary of Eastside MAX. He said we need to do something about MAX, people have to drive to it to use it.

Do something about it?
That must have meant build more of it?

It seems like one of the main reasons Portland proper thrives at all is the amount of federal dollars and state government dollars thrown to it in addition to cityhall's expanding indebtedness. It would seem like the federal government has other fires going on now, and should be looking to pull back subsidies from Portland proper. The same goes for the state of Oregon.

To build upon Ben's observations regarding Metro: remember when they were pitching a vote to expand the Convention Center? If we just doubled the space, the big conventions would come rolling in, bringing untold millions of dollars to Portland. "Trust us on this", they said.

We didn't. We voted against expansion.

Metro did it anyway.

Max has it right. That headquarters hotel will be built no matter what the construction cost or the operating losses. Hoffman Construction and the landowners in the Lloyd District want the hotel, so it will happen. The public and taxpayers are irrelevant. Just wait, the Metro Council will approve building the hotel within 3 months.

"That headquarters hotel will be built no matter what the construction cost"

We have proof of that mindset.

Sam Adams said that it doesn't matter what SoWa costs, we have to do it to stop sprawl.

He's an idiot.

By the time the Convention Center hotel is finally built, regional population will have grown by 1 million people, every street will have a slow and silent streetcar, SoWa condos will be full, and Sam Adams will be the first openly gay U.S. senator, and Randy Leonard will be governor.

Where are the environmentalists, the city councilmen, the metro consulars on this convention center hotel issue who believe in reducing the carbon footprint where ever we go?

There is little difference in their concerns about the Columbia Crossing causing pollution, carbon negatives than there is in encouraging convention goers flying into Portland, leaving vapor trails, eating up excessive carbons and staying at a taxpayer subsidized hotel with a huge carbon footprint. Lets be fair and equitable in seeing this hypocrisy.